Matthieu Pavon will play today in the star match of the last day of the Farmers Insurance Open, just one stroke behind the leader, the German Stephan Jaeger, and he has a date with history, especially with French golf history, since to date no French player has ever won a PGA Tour tournament. The fact is as simple as it is overwhelming.
It’s not that France has ever been a great power in the sport of the fourteen clubs, especially at the highest professional level, and in fact the victory of Arnaud Massy in the 1907 Open remains the only one of French golf in the majors. But one thing is the Majors and another is the regular calendar of the PGA Tour, even though it is the most important circuit in the world, so the fact really catches the eye.
It should be noted that Martin Trainer, a player born in Marseille, won the Puerto Rico Open in 2019, a tournament of the second tier of the PGA Tour, but that counts as such. However, he did so under the American flag. Trainer has dual nationality, since in addition to being born in Marseille, his mother is French, but until 2022 he competed under the stars and stripes flag, and it was precisely in 2022 when he formally requested the French Federation to defend the French flag, with the primary goal of fighting to get into the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Victor Dubuisson came close at the 2014 WGC Match Play, when he lost the final to Jason Day. Not to mention the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach, where Gregory Havret almost surprised everyone, or that multitudinous play-off at the 2002 Open that Thomas Levet ended up losing to Ernie Els and that other Open that Jean Van de Velde handed on a silver platter to Paul Lawrie in 1999.
It goes without saying that Pavon has the hardest part left, to finish the job, on a course, the South course of Torrey Pines, that leaves little room for error. However, Pavon signed an impressive 65 on such a course in the second round, being by far the best of the day. The French player is also playing for his place in next week’s Signature Event at Pebble Beach. Right now he would be in, but he doesn’t have it 100% guaranteed, not by a long shot. A double bell-ringing goal and a real chance to write a golden page in the history of French golf. Not bad for a newcomer to the other side of the pond.
